The 5th Mountain Division (german: 5. Gebirgs Division) was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

division of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

. It was established in the Wehrkreis XVIII in October 1940, out of units taken from the 1st Mountain Division and the 10th Infantry Division. Its first action was in the 1941 Balkans Campaign, when it took part in Operations Marita and

Merkur Merkur (, '' Mercury'') is a defunct automobile brand that was marketed by the Lincoln- Mercury division of Ford Motor Company from 1985 to 1989. Drawing its name from the German word for Mercury, Merkur was targeted at buyers of European execut ...

; in the latter it was used in an air-landing role. In November, it returned to Germany for refitting, and in April 1942 it was deployed to the Eastern Front, where it joined Army Group North on the

Volkhov Front The Volkhov Front (russian: Волховский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group ...

. In April 1943 it was redeployed to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It fought out the remainder of the war in Italy and the Western Alps, and surrendered to the U.S. Army near

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in May 1945.

Commanders

* Julius Ringel (1 November 1940 – 10 February 1944) * Max-Günther Schrank (10 February 1944 – 18 January 1945) *

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(18 January 1945 – 2 May 1945)

War crimes

The division was implicated in the Grugliasco massacre,

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, alongside the 34th Infantry Division, where, on 30 April 1945, 67 civilians were executed. In the same days the division was also implicate in the Santhia massacre, on the way to

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, resulting in 48 deaths.

References

* Mountain divisions of Germany in World War II Military units and formations established in 1940 Crete in World War II Airborne divisions of Germany in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 {{Germany-WWII-stub